By JIM STEELE
mckenzierebels.com

ALAMO - When McKenzie finished the last of its three scrimmage pairings during the Sports Orthopedic and Spine Kickoff Scrimmage here Friday, Rebel football coach Wade Comer offered some encouraging words to his troops.

It was a tough night for the Rebels, who looked to be the equals of the three 3A teams they faced. McKenzie moved the ball between the 20s, hit hard on defense, but came away with little to show for it. McKenzie and Bolivar played to a scoreless draw; Lexington an Crockett County each exacted 7-0 decisions from the Rebs.

Instead of raking his team over the coals, he pointed out the positives.

"We're right there," he said. "I was pleased with the effort and we never gave up tonight."

There was that recurrent theme, one that emerge after the scrimmage with Dyersburg last Wednesday.

"We have to learn to pick up the intensity and finish the job," said Comer. "We're playing a lot of young kids and right now, we're a work in progress."

The Rebels moved the ball well early and late. Against Bolivar, time ran out as the Rebels were knocking at the door. But they had some success in moving the football. In the second pairing against Lexington, Austin McKinney was able to complete a tough pass to Zach English. QUinton Bowden broke off a long run to get the Rebs into the red zone. McKenzie senior Jacob Fussell ran hard on a fourth-and-six and came up short late in the scrimmage, again, and the Rebels came close to converting, but lost the ball on downs. Lexington ran out the clock.

McKenzie struggled to move the ball against Crockett County. The Rebs pinned the Cavs deep and senior Tyler Watson forced a fumble, which was rule dead. On the next play, Four plays later, Travis Moser caught the Rebels in the wrong alignment, darted to the outside and raced to paydirt from 48 yards.

John Johnson made a nice catch and Evan Rogers had a couple of thunderous hits, including a late sack. But McKenzie's inability to move the football plauged it much of the scrimmage.

"I don't think it's a physical thing, but we'll know more about that when we look at the film," said Comer. "It's more mental. In the first two games, from an offensive standpoint, we moved the ball, but couldn't punch it in."

Comer bemoaned the fact that the team struggled late against Crockett County: "We didn't do anything offensively."

"We have to understand that every play won't be perfect and we have to learn to play without fear," said Comer. "Right now, we're waiting for somemone else to do something and we're playing with a lot of fear."

Defensively, Comer said he was pretty well pleased, except for the two long runs.

"We have a lot of cleaning up to do and two times they scored they shouldn't have," Comer said. "Again, most of the time, the stuff that happened to us was basically self-inflicted. We have to learn how to step up an finish the deal."

The Rebels will hit the practice field an film room this week, then prepare for the Huntingdon Jamboree next Friday night. The Rebels will take on 2A contender Hickman County in the two-quarter pre-season affair. McKenzie will travel to Dresden and Rotary Field to take on the Lions 7:30 p.m. Aug. 29 to open the regular season.